Woburnite.com blogshttp://woburnite.com/blog
enThe Time for Local Economy Development is Nowhttp://woburnite.com/node/516
<p>My title might seem awkward, might look like I made a mistake, but I did not.&nbsp; I meant <em>Economy</em>, not <em>Economic</em>.&nbsp; For all that each of us needs for fundamental well-being, we need a local and solar-powered economy nested in a regional one. &nbsp;For basic needs, at least,&nbsp;we must shift reliance to what&#39;s reliable and accessible.&nbsp; While players in the national and global economy may locate a headquarters or satellite office in the city, others will close theirs. &nbsp;Successfully attracting any business <em>from away</em> to&nbsp;our&nbsp;city&nbsp;is a pyrrhic victory.&nbsp; We don&#39;t have to leave so much to chance.</p>
<p> Not only because of the settlement just achieved in Washington, D.C., the world we have shared here has changed and will continue changing.&nbsp; Our hopes and expectations must not be stuck in ruts made during previous eras, when society felt responsible and could try to act accordingly. &nbsp;To be blunt, we must expect and increasingly get more from each other simply because we are here together. &nbsp;We can design and complete projects because we want the fruits. &nbsp;It is time for us to be responsible for our own good.</p>
<p> To begin, please comment on any post in this blog, join <em><a href="http://www.sciwoburn.org/content/woburn-local">Woburn Local</a></em> at the SCI site and &ndash; most of all &ndash; prepare to meet and interact in new ways with other Woburnites.</p>
http://woburnite.com/node/516#commentsWed, 03 Aug 2011 14:30:14 +0000David Eggleton516 at http://woburnite.comA Good Taste of Portugal at Trackside Bar & Grill http://woburnite.com/node/452
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During a number of chats about our mutual interest in learning more about different cuisines, Fel Medeiros had sprinkled in tidbits about the food from his native Portugal. My curiosity was definitely piqued, so I eagerly accepted Fel&#39;s invitation to join him for lunch at one of his favorite local Portuguese restaurants.</div>
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The name <a href="http://tracksiderestaurant.com/"><font color="#223344">Trackside Bar &amp; Grill</font></a> doesn&#39;t suggest authentic Portuguese food, but once you come into this Peabody, MA, restaurant you get a sense its the real deal. Fel was warmly greeted as we arrived, and chatted with the chef about what was fresh. He mentioned lobsters, and I saw the evidence of one poking out of a pan along with an interesting concoction of other ingredients. Combining seafood and other items seems to be popular in Portuguese cuisine from what I can tell.</div>
</div><p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/452" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/452#commentsSat, 13 Nov 2010 06:56:06 +0000452 at http://woburnite.comYour Personal "Dashboard" Works: More or Less?http://woburnite.com/node/416
<p>We&#39;re&nbsp;more than&nbsp;100 years into the powered vehicle era, anticipating great changes whose arrival time&nbsp;we cannot predict.&nbsp; In every vehicle, there&#39;s an arrangement of info displays and vehicle controls that the driver can reach and view as necessary.&nbsp; The arrangements vary, but not enough to make&nbsp;one think twice about borrowing or renting a vehicle now and then.</p>
<p>Thinking each of us has fashioned something like a dashboard for&nbsp;the various moves we make&nbsp;without vehicles,&nbsp;I wonder if I&#39;d like to borrow yours.&nbsp; After all, you might be a top-notch personal <em>dashboard</em> designer!&nbsp; My&nbsp;wondering and curiosity about your talent&nbsp;generate&nbsp;a number&nbsp;of questions.&nbsp; Please answer any of them by commenting here, if you will.&nbsp; Participants might learn a lot.</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/416" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/416#commentsWed, 18 Aug 2010 21:24:49 +0000David Eggleton416 at http://woburnite.comResilience: Woburn Has Some, Let's Invest in Morehttp://woburnite.com/node/375
<p>Saturday afternoon we were home, either doing projects outdoors or indoors conversing with a journalist about our considerations of and preparations for the future we imagine.&nbsp; We didn&#39;t tune in to any kind of media during the evening.&nbsp;&nbsp;We knew nothing about the Boston area&#39;s water supply troubles until our son, a resident of Arlington, called.&nbsp; He asked if we knew of the ruptured pipe and the authorities&#39; advice to boil any water that would pass one&#39;s lips.</p>
<p> Immediately, we began to imagine the inconveniences. When we learned that Woburn is not one of the affected communities, we were relieved and happy, of course. &nbsp;<em>For us, life will go on being simple. &nbsp;Too bad those other communities had all their eggs in one basket!</em>&nbsp; How wonderful that in this city we draw water from more than one source and can choose which one, or ones, we will tap. &nbsp;Because life requires water, making an extra effort to ensure its continuous availability is a rational choice. &nbsp;We&#39;re grateful today that our predecessors chose to invest as they did, that they made arrangements for access to water both under foot and in a big pipe not far away.</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/375" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/375#commentsSun, 02 May 2010 21:32:35 +0000David Eggleton375 at http://woburnite.comHelping each other find what we need to build a strong local economy and a vibrant community. http://woburnite.com/node/347
<p>Small local businesses sometimes&nbsp;find it difficult to promote themselves and drive traffic to their sites.&nbsp;A simple and effective way is to list your business in local community directories like Woburnite.com<br />
If you have a small business in Woburn, Winchester, Arlington, Burlington, Stoneham, Wilmington or other surrounding cities and towns, you can Promote your business online for FREE at <a href="http://www.woburnite.com">www.woburnite.com</a><br />
Create your free listing by clicking the &quot;Get Listed&quot; tab at <a href="http://www.woburnite.com">www.woburnite.com</a> and enter your company name, business description, business address, phone number and website.<br />
Woburnite.com is a local business directory helping each other find what we need to build a strong local economy and a vibrant community.<br />
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http://woburnite.com/node/347#commentsTue, 09 Mar 2010 15:01:19 +0000Fel347 at http://woburnite.com"Things Could Be Lazy If They Weren't So Crazy"http://woburnite.com/node/346
<p>My title is the first line of a song Dave Mason recorded roughly forty years ago.&nbsp; The song's title is <em>World in Changes</em>.</p>
<p>I recently sat several times through a recorded description&nbsp;of this&nbsp;historical moment that declares the next twenty years will be very different from the preceeding twenty years.&nbsp; Ours is a world&nbsp;of change, as it always has been.&nbsp; What's different now is the ratio of givens&nbsp;to fabrications.&nbsp; Humans have undone a great deal&nbsp;in order to put much in place.&nbsp; They've moved farther and farther into their own spaces and have extended themselves greatly, not always knowing what they're doing.</p>
<p>Over the span of three DVDs, the&nbsp;author/speaker presents much economic and financial material.&nbsp; He&nbsp;asserts and explains&nbsp;that&nbsp;our standard practice of reviewing the recent past as we make decisions&nbsp;cannot serve us well.&nbsp; He is a Massachusetts resident and his&nbsp;name is Chris Martenson.&nbsp; The recording is called <em>The Crash Course</em> and is&nbsp;structured as&nbsp;twenty chapters.&nbsp; You can view all of them at no cost at <a href="http://www.chrismartenson.com/">his Web site</a>.&nbsp; Consider this a recommendation.</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/346" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/346#commentsTue, 02 Mar 2010 14:11:05 +0000David Eggleton346 at http://woburnite.comCan Nostalgia Morph Into Preparedness?http://woburnite.com/node/337
<p>A few nights ago, I attended a presentation in the high school auditorium&nbsp;regarding a series of past disasters in Woburn.&nbsp; I arrived a few minutes after it began and could not park in any of the school lots.&nbsp; It was, therefore, no surprise to find the auditorium full of people.&nbsp; The empty seats were few and far between.&nbsp; I sat on the&nbsp;steps to rows of seats in the upper section of the hall.</p>
<p>I had been in that fine&nbsp;space only twice before, both times for events related to the city's mayoral leadership (a debate and an inauguration).&nbsp; Of the three, this was the biggest turnout I've seen.&nbsp; I&nbsp;was amazed and&nbsp;curious, and jealous of the guy who held everyone's attention with projected images of&nbsp;and stories about&nbsp;losses that&nbsp;happened a while back.</p>
<p>I am, as you know,&nbsp;concerned about&nbsp;conceivable disasters looming over our days, which would not be so isolated as fires, explosions&nbsp;and tornado touch-points.&nbsp; Only huge storms had overall effects comparable to what threatens all of us now:&nbsp; fuels&nbsp;too expensive to use in the manner to which we are accustomed, stores unable to restock their shelves with products from afar and weather events and swings interfering more and more with our awkward&nbsp;improvisations.</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/337" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/337#commentsThu, 04 Feb 2010 04:14:05 +0000David Eggleton337 at http://woburnite.comWhat Will We Think Of Next?http://woburnite.com/node/330
<p>When I was a boy, the question <em>What will they think of next?</em> was in the air, water and food.&nbsp; I cannot recall a time I wasn't aware that clever people out there were busy preparing newness for us.&nbsp; My family and its relatives, friends and acquaintances all anticipated next things, certain&nbsp;that innovation and invention behind commerce were to be&nbsp;continuous and endless.&nbsp; Cheap fossil fuels were making so much possible, and it was fun to live as an almost care-free, autonomous&nbsp;sampler of&nbsp;developments.&nbsp; It was&nbsp;freedom's new form, achieved through the&nbsp;climb out of the&nbsp;Depression and the victories over fascist imperialism.&nbsp; At once&nbsp;students and fans of The Beatles, we looked forward to doing our part, which we would discover along the way.&nbsp; Opportunities,&nbsp;of&nbsp;which&nbsp;the space program was symbolic,&nbsp;seemed unlimited for us,&nbsp;though not yet for all, as the civil rights and antiwar&nbsp;movements, in parallel,&nbsp;made plain.</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/330" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/330#commentsWed, 13 Jan 2010 14:29:39 +0000David Eggleton330 at http://woburnite.comDiverse Minds, Unrestricted And Engagedhttp://woburnite.com/node/325
<p>During the campaign and in his inaugural speech,&nbsp;Mayor Galvin professed a&nbsp;faith in technology that is common, reasonable and thought restrictive.&nbsp; As such, it is acceptable&nbsp;to a&nbsp;diffused majority not conscious of itself, not of one mind and content to leave some matters to city government.&nbsp; As such,&nbsp;his faith in technology gets&nbsp;our community&nbsp;only so&nbsp;far. &nbsp;To go the distance, Woburn&nbsp;needs its diverse minds unrestricted and&nbsp;engaged.&nbsp; If he hopes to be mayor for several terms or more, Scott Galvin should shift his faith steadily toward community. &nbsp;No one can prescribe the perfect stride, pace and percentage; I suspect that a genuine, and thus evident, intention will serve him well.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s important to note that I am not advocating going from one extreme to another.&nbsp; For a beginning,&nbsp;I&rsquo;m advocating discovery of balance.</p>
<p>That said, I must say more about the technology-community continuum and about going the distance.</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/325" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/325#commentsFri, 08 Jan 2010 18:33:14 +0000David Eggleton325 at http://woburnite.comFor The New Mayorhttp://woburnite.com/node/323
<p>I&nbsp;heard Mayor Scott Galvin address a crowd in the spectacular WMHS auditorium Monday evening after he took the oath of office.&nbsp; I wish him well and hope that circumstances beyond the city limits don't force&nbsp;him to make many&nbsp;detours from his plans.&nbsp;&nbsp;Highly cognizant of Woburn's advantages, he's made his plans commendably optimistic and ambitious.&nbsp; The Daily Times Chronicle reported that&nbsp;he said &quot;living in Woburn will become the absolute best value in the Commonwealth.&quot;</p>
<p><a href="http://woburnite.com/node/323" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://woburnite.com/node/323#commentsWed, 06 Jan 2010 18:34:11 +0000David Eggleton323 at http://woburnite.com